“I’ve seen that before,” Reggie Jackson said of Judge’s power after the game in the Yankee clubhouse.

“I was on the other end of it.”

Twelve months later, the 6-foot-7, 282-pound right fielder has positioned himself as one of the favorites to win the American League Most Valuable Player award and is a virtual lock to win AL Rookie of the Year.

Not only did he break the franchise rookie home-run record by hitting his 30th homer in just 80 games — knocking Joe DiMaggio from the record book — but he also made Statcast a household word, smacking the four hardest hits of the season, topping off at 121.1 mph on June 10. Less than 24 hours later, Judge hit a homer that went an estimated 496 feet, the longest measurement of the season.

“Aaron Judge has been absolutely phenomenal,” Manfred said. “There is no other word to describe it. He is a tremendous talent on the field. A really appealing off-the-field personality. The kind of player that can become the face of the game.”

That night, he went 0-for-3 with a strikeout. And while he remains the brightest star at Yankee Stadium — and even at Citi Field, where he blasted a titanic 457-foot homer in Wednesday’s Subway Series game against the Mets — Judge hasn’t been the same at the plate since the All-Star break, hitting just .185 through Wednesday.

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As he heads into the final six weeks of the season, and with the Yanks looking for a new face of the franchise with the loss of Derek Jeter, Judge remains a mystery. Is he the player who sent shock waves through the sport after winning a starting job only at the end of spring training — or the strikeout-prone concern he was at times last season and has been again for the past month?

Indeed, on Wednesday Judge struck out for the 33rd straight game, establishing an MLB record for position players. He is on pace for a Yankee-record 216 strikeouts this season.

Fortunately, he does seem to be making noise again. His homer on Wednesday gave him 37 on the year as he closes in on Mark ­McGwire’s rookie record of 49, set with Oakland in 1987. Over his last four games entering Thursday, Judge had gone 5-for-15 (.333) with two homers and three walks.

For the season, Judge was batting .291 with an American League-high 37 homers, and an AL-high .614 slugging percentage through Wednesday.

Those around Judge insist his overall second-half swoon at the plate is only temporary. That’s something the Yankees are banking on.

“I don’t think what he did earlier was a fluke at all,’’ said Yankees hurler CC Sabathia. “Just because of who he is and the way he prepares. And with how big and strong he is, he’s able to do things no normal person can do. He’ll always be able to be dominant.”

Others, though, aren’t convinced he hasn’t had to deal with too much too soon.

“That’s something I never thought I would have seen at Yankee Stadium,” retired Yankee first baseman Mark Teixeira said. “It’s high praise, but it’s early. And the commissioner of baseball, when [Judge] didn’t even have a full season under his belt in the majors, saying, ‘You could be the face of baseball,’ those are all very flattering, but I’m glad I didn’t have any of that going on when I was a kid. In my first year in the big leagues, I flew under the radar. It’s a little easier to do that.

“But when you wear the Pinstripes and you have that kind of first half, the accolades and attention are gonna come.”

Speaking to The Post this week, Manfred said he chose his words about Judge “carefully.”

“I said ‘can’ [become the face of baseball] instead of ‘is’ because there are a lot of cards to be played,” said Manfred, mentioning other young new stars, such as the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger and the Cubs’ Kris Bryant. “The last thing I want to do is put pressure on those young players, but from where I sit, it’s impossible not to recognize what they’re doing.”

Aaron Judge was adopted by Wayne and Patty Judge when he was 1 day old and hasn’t had any contact with his birth parents. His older brother, John, is adopted as well.

At Linden HS in California, Judge excelled in football and received scholarship offers from Stanford, UCLA and Notre Dame.

But he ended up going to Fresno State to play baseball on a partial scholarship.

Judge was athletic enough to play center field, something coach Mike Batesole discovered when he had his team play touch football during the fall and Judge couldn’t be covered by his teammates. The Yankees selected him in the first round of the 2013 draft, 32nd overall.

Damon Oppenheimer, the Yankees’ vice president and director of amateur scouting, first saw Judge in high school.

“He was like a big piece of clay,’’ Oppenheimer said. “He wasn’t ready to sign and compete at the professional level at that point. He came back on my radar during his junior year of college. . . . He had become more coordinated and learned his swing.”

Most noticeable, though, was his size.

Aaron Judge towers over teammate Ronald Torreyes.George McNish

“He was not like anyone I’d seen before,” Oppenheimer said.

Troy Afenir had just been hired as the Yankees’ Southern California area amateur scout, and Judge became the first player the organization signed under his watch.

“It was a good way to start,” said Afenir, a former catcher who spent parts of four years in the majors. “He had outstanding makeup and a quiet confidence. He did everything the way you were supposed to. . . . You don’t know how they’re going to handle anything until they get there, but you had a good feeling about him.”

Now, he has to figure out how to get out of his second-half slump.

“It’s just baseball,” Judge said. “My timing’s been off a little bit. It’s the grind of the season and your body never feels 100 percent. It’s just about me getting back in rhythm and understanding how to play when you’re not feeling your best. That’s what I’ve been doing. I think things are starting to click.”

Judge insists his issues at the plate haven’t stemmed from his time in the spotlight or his appearance in the Home Run Derby, which has been known to impact players’ swings.

“I still feel like I’m swinging well,” Judge said.

As for Manfred’s comments, Judge said, “What a compliment [that was]. But I still have to focus on my job. You just have to keep your blinders on . . . People from the outside are trying to get in and people you know are saying stuff. But if you have your one focus on playing and do that over and over again, then you look up and hopefully you’ve had a really good year. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Still, there isn’t much of a blueprint for what Judge has done this season.

And he’s popular enough that the jersey he wore for his MLB debut was sold at auction last month for $160,644.

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Teixeira wonders if being at the center of the baseball world so quickly took a toll on Judge.

“I think that’s a natural thing to look at,” Teixeira said. “This guy has had a lot of attention and pressure thrown on him. I’m sure he’s trying a little bit harder than he was earlier.

“It’s probably a little bit of everything coming together.”

And it has even resulted in a smattering of boos after some recent Judge strikeouts.

The Yankee clubhouse has plenty of veterans and stars, but none who have dealt with what Judge has seen this season.

“I’ve never been the face of baseball,’’ Sabathia said. “I was a good player, but I wasn’t doing it in New York [as a rookie]. It was nothing like what he’s going through.

“Can it be a challenge for a young player? Absolutely. I wouldn’t have been ready for it.”

Sabathia is confident Judge is ready, despite the recent slide.

“I think he’s built for it,’’ Sabathia said. “He went to college and is older for a rookie. And he’s had some success and adversity before this.”

He has no choice but to be ready, which is something Sabathia pointed out.

“That’s his reality now,” Sabathia said. “It just comes with being as good as he is. No one can do what he does. But you can’t use that as an excuse — that’s just part of it for him now.”

Judge says he’s doing his best to keep his whirlwind rookie season in perspective.

“To be honest, I still haven’t thought about it much, the highs or the lows,” he said. “I’ll reflect in the off-season. It’s been a fun journey. The first half had its ups and now there have been some downs. But I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, the 4-for-4s and the 0-for-4s.”

In the meantime, Judge has rented an apartment in Midtown, ditching the hotel room near Times Square where he lived earlier in the season.

“It’s just better for me to have a place to keep my stuff,” Judge said. “I used to have to pack all my stuff up and go back and forth when I was in a hotel.”

He says he’ll “always be a California kid,” but has come to enjoy being in New York.

“I love living in the city,” Judge said. “You’ve got a Starbucks on every corner and a Chipotle on every corner. Everything is so convenient. And since this is New York, everyone is so busy and on their own schedules. If they recognize me, they usually just say, ‘Hey, good game’ and keep going.”